High temperature manufacturing processes contribute to global warming, and this contribution is particularly significant in the processing of cementitious and ceramic materials. Each year, coal burning power plants, steel factories, and similar facilities in the United States produce more than 125 million tons of waste, much of it Fly and bottom ash left from combustion. This quantity depends on the fuel type, raw ingredients used, and the energy efficiency of a cement plant.
Manufacturing of conventional ceramics typically involves high temperatures during at least part of a manufacturing process, which is undesirable because of increased cost and negative environmental impact. Sintered ceramics have been used for thousands of years by humans, and even today are the subject of intense research mainly at high temperatures. However, sintering can involve a significant amount of energy, and the process can be expensive at large manufacturing scales. An alternative to sintering is chemical bonding as in hydraulic cements, which allows these materials to be inexpensively manufactured in high volume production. Although sintered ceramics typically are expensive compared to hydraulic cements, ceramics in general can have higher mechanical strength, corrosion resistance, and temperature stability. It is desirable to develop materials that have properties in between sintered cements and hydraulic ceramics to fill the gap between these materials.
It is against this background that a need arose to develop the chemically bonded ceramics and manufacturing processes described herein.